As a NAS for small business, QNAP's TS-259 Pro-2 Drive Turbo NAS Server is close in features and functionality to Iomega's Storcenter ix4-200d and Editor's Choice Western Digital's WD ShareSpace NAS with one significant difference: performance. The speed of the TS-259 blew away results of both of the above. The TS-259 undoubtedly owes its pep to Intel's "PineView" technology, a Dual Core Atom D510 Processor. It is at the heart of the TS-259 and the rest of QNAP's latest Turbo NAS server lineup.

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The TS-259 also has all the features and more than you'd expect from a serious contender in the small business storage market. It lists at a decent $599.99 but it does not ship with any hard drives. Resellers can opt to provide drives to customers, which can invariably, drive up that list price. However, the TS-259 can also be purchased from e-tailers, so not offering it with drives is unfortunate since other NAS devices targeted to the SMB come with drives preinstalled. The Storcenter and ShareSpace competition are more of a bargain for that reason, but you are getting faster performance and a more extensive set of business-class features with QNAP's product. It's worth the price, but not quite worth being our Editors' Choice.

Design
The TS-259 Pro Turbo NAS server is the entry model of QNAP's latest line of Business Series Turbo NAS devices. It is a small tower with 1 GB DDRII memory and dual drive bays for up to two hot-swappable 3.5" or 2.5" SATA hard drives (not included) for an internal maximum capacity of 4 TB. It's also got five USB 2.0 ports as well as two external SATA (eSATA) ports to connect even more storage. The hard drives have locks to prevent someone from just popping them out, which is good because the drive trays slip in and out of the chassis with ease.

Additional physical security is provided though a Kensington Security Lock, also called K-Slots. K-Slots are commonly used on portable devices like laptops to anchor them to walls or heavy tables. The TS-259 can't be pocketed since it weighs a little over seven pounds (with two SATA drives installed) and measures 5.91" (H) by 4.02" (W) by 8.5" (D). But it is small enough for someone to walk away with.

Two Gigabit LAN ports and a VGA port round out the rest of the connectivity options. The VGA port is reserved for maintenance and running Linux-based command lines. You can not use it to stream video to a monitor or connect a VGA-compatible TV.

The front panel has several LED indicators for activity status of internal drives, LAN, and eSATA activity. That's not as nice of a display as the LCD panel on the Iomega's Storcenter ix4-200d, but it's better than nothing. There's a "One Touch" Copy Button that can be configured to perform instant data backup from an external USB drive to the TS-259 or vice-versa. QNAP's Turbo NAS lineup supports Windows, Mac and Linux environments.Next: Setup

Samara Lynn has nearly twenty years experience in Information Technology; most recently as IT Director at a major New York City healthcare facility. She has a Bachelor's degree from Brooklyn College, several technology certifications, and...

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